Charles medbuey



(No Model.)

O. MEDBURY.

AUTOMATIC VALVE FOR WATER SERVICE PIPES.

Patented July 24, 1888.

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NITE STATES ATENT FFICE.

CHARLES MEDBURY, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

AUTOMATIC VALVE FOR WATER-SERVICE PIPES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 386,752, dated July24., 1888.

Application filed November 23, 1887. Serial No. 256,020.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES MEDBURY, of the city and county ofProvidence, in the State of Rhode Island, have invented a certain newand useful Improvement in Automatic Valves for ater-Service Pipes; and Ideclare the following to be a specification thereof, reference being badto the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 shows, partly in elevation and partly in vertical section, myinvention with the valve open. Fig. 2 is the same with the valve closed.

Like letters indicate like parts.

My invention is intended, principally, for tenement-houses in cities andtowns which have a water-supply, and especially in places where there isno sewer system, but where cesspools are required to receive wastewater.

\Vhere water is supplied to a tenement through a meter and is paid forby the land lord, according to the quantity used, it is desirable tolimit, so far as possible, any unnecessary flow of water in order toreduce the cost of the tenants watersupply, and in suburban and outlyingdistricts, and where street-sewers have not been constructed, it is alsodesirable to limit, as much as possible, the amount of waste waterflowing into the cesspools, because the contents of such receptaclesmust be frequently taken and removed at great expense and with muchinconvenience. Landlords experience great loss in these particulars fromtenants who are careless or willful in the use or disposal of water.

My invention is designed to automatically limit the flow of waterthrough the service-pipe and to shut off the supply temporarily when acertain quantity has passed from the faucet.

It consists of a compound lever connected together by a link andproperly mounted, one lever carrying at its longer end an adjustableweight or counterpoise and on its opposite arm a basin or tank restingthereon by an intermediate support, and the other lever operatingvertically a rod to seat or unseat a valve in the water-pipeautomatically, according to the weight of the water contained in thebasin or tank, as hereinafter particularly specified.

In the drawings, A represents the waterservice pipe, which is connectedwith the streetmain and has a discharge-pipe, B. A plug- (No model.)

valve, C, or other suitable valve, having a direct vertical movement,controls the flow of the water in the pipes in the usual manner. Alever, D, having its fulcrum upon the pivot 01, is mounted upon saidpivot within the standard E. On its longer arm the lever D has theweight or counterpoise F, which is adjustable upon said armlongitudinally by means of a screw-t1] read, I), or otherwise. At itsopposite end the lever D is connected by a link, G, to the lever H bymeans of the pivots c c. The lever H has its fulcrum on the pivot d onthe bracket I. A rod, J, pivoted to the lever H at e and guided throughthe eye or staple f, connects rigidly with the stem of the valve 0. Asupporting-post, K, having a seat, L, is mounted upon the pivotg of thelever D on the arm of it opposite to that which carries the counterpoiseF. A basin or tank, M, is secured to the seat L, as shown. A shelf orplatform, N, has a funnel, O, of a diameter sufficient to easily enterthe top of the basin M,which funnel serves as a side support for thebasin.

The operation of the mechanism is as follows: As shown in Fig. 1, thevalve 0 is up and open, and, operating thus in the usual manner, allowsthe water to flow freely from the pipe A through the discharge-pi1: e B,from which the water falls into the basin M. During this flow all theparts of the device are in the position illustrated in Fig. 1. Theweight of the counterpoise F is sufficient to keep elevated the basin M,and by the link-connection G holds up the lever H, and by the rod Jcauses the valve 0 to remain unseatcd and open; but when the basin hasreceived a quantity of water sufficient in weight to overbalance thecounterpoise F the tank descends, carries downward the shorter arm ofthe lever D, and by the link-connection G brings down the lever H, whichpulls down the rod J, and thus seats the valve 0 and shuts off the flowof water. The water can now be taken from the tank by a dipper, and assoon as the quantity of water is reduced to a weight less than that ofthe counterpoise F said counterpoise descends, raising the tank to itsformer position, and,by the intermediate levers, link, and rod, againopens the valve 0 automatically, allowing the water to flow through thepipe B. In this manner the tenant uses no more water than is needed,because the quantity in the tank is always limited and because all thewater required must be laboriously dipped up from the tank and as thetenant uses under these circumstances no more water than is absolutelynecessary the quantity of dirty water which afterward goes to thecesspool is lessened, while the immense quantities which are oftenallowed by careless tenants to run to waste where the common freelyflowing faucets are used are i saved, because the current isautomatically controlled, as above described. In this way the landlordis saved the expense both of the water supplied to the tenement throughthe meter and of the water which runs into thedrainage.

The adjustability of the counterpoise F allows any desired variation ofthe accumulation of water in the tank before the current is checked bythe valve.

I claim as a novel and useful invention and desire tosecure by LettersPatent The combination of the standard E, the lever D, having thescrew-thread b, the counterpoise F, adjustable upon said screw-threadedlever D, the post K, the seat L, the basin M, the link G, the lever H,the rod J, the valve 0, the pipes A B, the shelf N, the funnel O, thepivots a c d e g, and the bracket I, sub stantially as specified.

' CHARLES MEDBURY. Witnesses:

WARREN R. PERGE, DANIEL W. FINK.

